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Income Layering Helps Retirees Combat Inflation, Adviser Says

This Approach Provides Retirees With Rising Income While Preserving Principal

By

Michelle Brennan Hall

Updated Feb. 1, 2015 11:00 p.m. ET

Income layering is a retirement-planning approach that attempts to pair a retiree’s income needs at different stages of life with corresponding assets from his or her portfolio. Under the plan, a retiree draws income from one or more sources initially, then adds new, supplementary layers of income from additional assets as retirement progresses.

The advantage to income layering is that it provides rising income to combat inflation without liquidating principal like other income concepts. The approach isn’t magically...